Inking mechanism for printing presses



Oct. 31, 1939. H. B.-W|LLETT. SR

INKING MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES Filed Sept. 13, 1937 2Sheets-Sheet l Oct. 31, 1939.- H. B WILLETT. SR

INKING MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES Filed Sept. 13, 1937 2Sheets-Sheet 2 m wm m m ET *0 M w m w H K M M Patented Oct. 31 1939UNITED STATES INKING MECHANISM FOR PRINTING DRESSES Harry B. Willett,Sr., Indianapolis, Ind.

Application September 13, 1937, Serial No. 163,534

2 Claims.

This invention relates to an inking mechanism for a printing press andis particularly adaptable to the type of printing press disclosed in myprior Patent No. 1,993,232, issued March 5, 1935, in which there isprovided a stationary type bed and an oscillating platen together withmeans for feeding a web of paper or other material to be printed acrossthe platen. The present invention, however, is equally applicable tocertain other types of presses.

In my prior patent, there is shown a press in which the ink is suppliedfrom a plurality of rotatable discs and is transferred from the discs tothe type bed by means of rollers. When the pressis used for two colorwork, each of the discs may be supplied with ink of a different colorand a separate type bed is provided beneath each disc in which the copyto be printed in the color carried by that disc is set. The web feedmechanism is set to move the web along the platen in successive steps tobring the printing of the several colors into exact register. In thistype of inking construction, the transfer, rollers are apt to receivemore ink in thatportion which engages the central part of the discs. Forthat reason, printing is not always uniform unless the type bed is muchnarrower than the width of the disc. This requirement necessitates thetype beds being relatively far apart and limits the use of the press towork in whichthe printed matter occupies a relatively small portion ofthe sheet to be cut from the web. 7

One object of the present invention is to overcome this difliculty andto provide an inking mechanism which gives satisfactorily uniformmulti-colored printing from type beds set as close together as may bedesired. For this purpose, there is employed, instead of thedistributing discs just mentioned, a plurality of distributing drumstogether with a. plurality of oscillating rollers cooperating with thedrums to distribute the ink uniformly thereon. Transfer rollers take theink from the drums to the typebeds and since both the drums and therollers are cylindrical, each part of the transferroller uniformlyengages the drum and receives a uniform supply of ink. The drums andoscillating rollers are preferably slightly spaced apart to preventmixing of the ink of different colors and spacers are provided in theink fountain trough to-prevent mixing of the ink therein. Thedistributing drums and oscillating rollers are made easily removable andreplaceable so that rollers and drums of varying widths to correspondwith the particular printing job to be done, may be quickly put inplace.

For this purpose also, the partitions in the fountain trough are madeadjustable.

Another object of the invention is to provide means for quicklycorrecting any poor distribution of the ink on the drums. This is accom-5 plished by the provision of independent means for rotating thedistributing drums and the oscillating rollers so that the operation ofthe press as a whole may be stopped and these drums and rollers maycontinue to operate until the poor distribution has been corrected.

Other objects and features of the invention will be understood from theaccompanying drawings and the following description and claims:

Fig. l is a side view of a portion of a press to which the invention hasbeen applied. Fig. 2 is a similar side view of the opposite side. Fig. 3is a rear view thereof. Fig. 4 is a sectional view through the inkdistributing drums illustrating the preferred manner of mounting thesame for ready interchangeability. Fig. 5 is a sectional view of adetail of the operating mechanism of theoscillating rollers takensubstantially on the line 5.-5 of Fig. 3.

Inthe form cf the invention illustrated in the drawings, .the stationaryportions of the press include a pair of side plates I9 and H. The sideplates are (suitably secured on a bed plate, not shown, and aresecuredtogether in a rigid structure by any suitablemeans, such as across bar !2. A platen I3 is pivotally mounted upon a shaft l4 journaledon the plates I0 and II and is provided with a rearward extension l5between said plates to which there is connected a pitman IS in turnconnected to a crank ll carried by the main crankshaft E8 of themachine. The crank shaft l8 may carry a flywheel, not shown, a's-isusual in presses of this type. A motor l9 mounted on a. suitable plate29 may drive the shaft I8 through a sprocket 2|, chain 22 and sprocket23. I

Adjacent the upper end of the plates l0 and I l, a fountain trough 24extends between the same. A fountain roller 25 is carried by a shaft 26journaled on the plates 16 and ll and rotates within the fountain trough2 3. An adjustable spreader 2'! of resilient material engages the rollerwithin the trough to distribute the ink thereon.v A ratchet wheel 28 ismounted on the shaft 26 and is engaged by a spring-pressed pawl 29carried'by a lever arm .38 which is freely mountedupon the shaft2 and ispivotally connected at its opposite end to a collar 3|. The collar 31'is freelyslidable upon a vertical rod 32, the sliding vmovement thereofbeing limited by adjustable stop collars 33 and 34. The rod 32 ispivotally secured at its lower end to a crank 35 carried by a shaft 36which is journaled in the plates I8 and II. The shaft 36 is rotated byrotation of the shaft I8 by means of a bevel gear 31 mounted on theshaft I8, a bevel pinion 38 meshing therewith, a shaft 38 to which saidpinion is secured, a second bevel pinion 48 secured to said shaft, and abevel gear 4I meshing with the latter pinion and secured to the shaft36. The shaft 39 is suitably journaled on the side plate I8. By thismeans, the fountain roller 25 is rotated step by step in timed relationwith the printing operation of the platen I3 and the ink which isdeposited in the trough 24 above the spreader 21 is distributed thereonby said spreader. The rate of movement of the fountain roller may beadjusted by adjusting the position of the collars 33 and 34 upon the rod32.

Above the fountain roller 25, a shaft 42 is pivotally mounted onbrackets 43 carried by the plates I8 and II. Said shaft has securedthereto a pair of lever arms 44 which carry in slotted openings a shaft45 on which there is mounted a roller 46 which is known as the duckroller. The shaft 42 also carries a lever 41 having an opening throughwhich the Vertical rod 32 extends. A compression spring 48 surrounds therod above the lever 41 and abuts against a collar 49 secured to saidrod. The lower end of the spring 48 abuts against the lever 41. As therod 32 is raised, the pressure of the spring 48 is released and the duckroller 46 drops by its own weight into contact with the fountain roller25 to receive ink therefrom. As the rod 32 is drawn downwardly thespring 48 is pressed against the lever 41 to raise the duck roller 46into engagement with a set of oscillating rollers 58 which are carriedby a shaft 5| journaled in bearings 52 on the plates I8 and I I. Theduck roller thus transfers ink from the fountain roller to theoscillating roller at periodical intervals in the operation of thepress. In starting the machine or at other times when there is aninsuflicient supply of ink on the oscillating rollers, the duck rollermay be raised and lowered by the manual operation of the lever 41 totransfer a larger supply of ink. The oscillating rollers engage aplurality of drums 53 which are secured to a sleeve 54 by means of setscrews 55, said sleeve being journaled on a stationary shaft 56 which issecured at its ends to the plates I8 and I I by means of set screws 51.

Power for rotating the drums 53 and for oscillating the rollers 58 issupplied from a motor 58 suitably mounted on a cross member 59 securedto the plates I8 and II. Said motor rotates a stub shaft 68 by means ofgears contained in a housing 6I formed integrally with the motor frame,Said stub shaft is journaled on the plate I8 and carries a gear 62meshing with a gear 63 carried by a shaft 64 which is journaled in theplates I8 and I I. The shaft 64 carries a sprocket 65 about which thereis trained a chain 66 which also engages a sprocket 61 secured to thesleeve 54. The operation of the motor 58 thus rotates the drums 53.

The shaft 64 also carries a pinion 6B meshing with a pinion 69 carriedby a stub shaft 18 mounted on the plate II. The pinion 68 drives a gear1I mounted on a shaft 12 journaled in the plates I8 and II. The shaft 12also carries an eccentric 13 on which there is freely mounted a circularcollar 14 formed as best seen in Fig. 5 and secured in place by a plate15. A yoke 16 embraces the collar 15 and is provided with set screws 11having points engaging suitable pits placed diametrically opposite inthe outer surface of the collar 14. The yoke 16 is pivoted at its upperend at 18 to a stem 18 which passes through a suitable opening in alever 84. Said stem is loosely engaged with the lever 88 by means ofnuts 8I threaded thereon. The lever 80 is pivotally mounted by means ofset screws 82 on a collar 83 carried by a stub shaft 84 which is in turncarried by the plate II. Said collar is retained in position on the stubshaft by set collars 85. The upper end of the lever 88 is provided withan embossment 86 in which there is reciprocably mounted the lower end ofa lever 81. The lever 81 is pivotally mounted by means of set screws 88on a collar 88 freely mounted on the shaft 5I. Said collar is retainedin position on the shaft by set collars 88.

By means of the linkage just described, the rotation of shaft 12produces a vertical movement of the yoke 16 which is transmitted to thelever 88 through the stem 18 and causes said lever to oscillate aboutits pivot screws 82. The oscillation of the lever 88 is transmittedthrough lever 81 to the collar 88, the embossment 86 providing anextensible connection between said levers. The movement of lever 81results in horizontal oscillation of the shaft 5I and the oscillatingrollers 58 carried thereby.

Ink is transferred from the drums 53 to the bed 9| by means of transferrollers 33. Said rollers are herein shown as four in number, the upperpair being journaled on yokes 83 and the lower pair on yokes 84, therebeing one of said yokes at each side of the machine. The yokes 83 and 84are pivotally mounted on yokes 95, each of which is in turn pivotallymounted to a stem 96 extending within a tubular housing 91 and having acollar 88 secured on the end thereof. The housings 91 are pivotallymounted at 88 to the plates I8 and II and each of said housings isclosed by a cap I88 through which the rods 86 extend. Compressionsprings I8I within said housings abut against the caps I88 and thecollars 88. Each of the housings 81 is provided with a rearwardextension I82 and said extensions are connected by a cross member I83 towhich there is attached a pitman I84, the lower end of which isconnected to a lever I05 secured to the shaft 36. By means of thisconstruction, the transfer rollers 82 are raised and lowered to transferink from the drums 53 to the type bed 8| in timed relation with theprinting operation of the platen I3, the spring I8I serving to maintainthe proper pressure between the rollers and the type bed and between therollers and the drums 53.

In multicolor printing with the press just described, each of the drums53 and its associated oscillating roller 58 may be used for a differentcolor of ink. In that case the trough 24 is divided by spacers I86 intocompartments, each of which may receive the ink of the desired colorwithout danger of mixing of colors. The spacers I86 are shaped as bestseen in Fig. 2 and are merely hung over the edge of the fountain trough24 at the point or points at which it is desired to divide said trough.The fountain roller 25 and duck roller 46 transfer the inks of differentcolors to the appropriate oscillating rollers 58, the width of thespacers I86 being sufficient to insure that ink of a given color willnot be placed on the wrong oscillating roll. From Fig. 3 it will beapparent that there is considerable space between the oscillatingrollers and this space is made sufficiently large to prevent one rollerin 7 its horizontal movement from engaging the drum 53 associated withanother roller. At the same time, the small space provided between thedrums 53 permits a small amount of ,overtravel of the oscillatingrollers and insures a uniform distribution of ink on the drums. Sincethe drums transfer ink uniformly to the transfer rollers 92 throughoutthe face of the drums, said transfer rollers may be used with type bedspractically as wide as the face of the drums and said type beds may beplaced substantially as close together as the drums themselves. Thisresult cannot be obtained by the use of discs instead of drums as in theprior patent previously mentioned. Since the type beds may be closetogether, the movements of the web of paper necessary to bring the samesuccessively into engagement with each type bed need be only slightlygreater than the width of each type bed. Since this movement determinesthe length of the sheet to be cut from the web at each operation, it isapparent that the sheet need be only slightly longer than the individualwidth of the type bed. Thus printing of each of the colors may be placedon any part of the sheet.

When it is desired to change the size of type beds, the drums 53 andoscillating rollers may be removed and replaced by drums and rollers ofappropriate size for the new printing job. At the same time, the spacersI06 may be moved to divide the fountain trough accordingly. Theparticular means shown for mounting the drums greatly facilitates theirremoval and cuts down the make-ready time. In changing drums, the setscrews 5'! are loosened and the shaft 56 is withdrawn while the drumsare suitably supported from above. The drums may then be loweredsufiiciently to permit the chain 66 to be disengaged and may then belifted as a unit. The drums are then removed from the sleeve 54 andothers placed thereon, whereupon the new suit may be placed in position.In changing the oscillating rollers 50 it is only necessary to removehearing caps I01 which hold the shaft 5| inposition and then to removesaid shaft and the rollers as a unit. The extensible connection betweenlevers 88 and 8'! permits this to be done without disturbing the collar89.

In starting the press, or whenever a proper distribution of ink has notbeen secured on the drums 53, the press motor l9 may be stopped whilethe motor 58 continues to operate until the proper distribution isobtained. At the same time. ink may be supplied by manual operation ofthe levers 4'! and 3D.

The foregoing specification describes a preferred form of the invention,the details of which may be varied by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the scope thereof as defined by the appended claims.

The invention claimed is:

1. In a printing press having an ink receptacle, a fountain roller,means for spreading ink from said receptacle on said fountain roller, atype bed, and a movable platen cooperating with said type bed in theprinting operation, the combination of a rotating drum, an oscillatorroller engaging said drum, power means for rotating said drum andoscillating said roller in the direction of its axis, means fortransferring ink from said receptacle to said oscillator roller, meansfor transferring ink from said drum to said type bed, and a separatepower means operating said platen, rotating said fountain roller andoperating said ink transferring means.

2. In a printing press having an ink receptacle, a type bed, a movableplaten and power means operating said platen in the printing operation,the combination of a rotating drum, an oscillator roller engaging saiddrum, means for transferring ink from said receptacle to said oscillatorroller, means for transferring ink from said drum to said type bed, andmeans for rotating said drum and oscillating said roller in thedirection of its axis, said last mentioned means being operableindependently of the operation of said platen.

HARRY B. WILLETT, SR,

